The Librarian

I waited for a shattering blow followed by darkness, but the cable whistled even higher above me…

A warrior’s duty and loyalty lifted dying Ievlev to his feet. In a few fleeting strides he was already beside Dankevich and he pressed himself against her like an ardent lover who had crept up furtively, so that the long tip of the spear that had doomed him sank right into the burly woman’s flesh.

Dankevich swayed, and her drunken smile was replaced by a mask of bewilderment. She retched up spittle with a slight purple tinge. The hand holding the hook’s cable remained raised, but the hook sank lower as the radius of the mace shortened with every turn. Dankevich breathed heavily, like a bulldog, and blood flowed down her fat chin, dripping onto the worker’s waistcoat. The cable stopped moving and the hook buried itself in the sand. Fused together, the two bodies collapsed heavily to the ground. Nikolai had died before that moment, not knowing that he had defeated Dankevich.